The Sports Thread (4)

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Legendary Australia cricketer Steve Waugh feels that India captain Virat Kohli has a very sound batting technique and that is what sets him apart from the rest. When asked about who he feels is the best batsman out of Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Virat Kohli, the Aussie World Cup winning skipper gave his vote to the Indian superstar.

“I think Virat Kohli has got the best technique. If I told someone to model himself on a particular player I would say Kohli has got the perfect technique,” Waugh told ESPN Cricinfo.

West Indies are 2 up against England; meek surrender from the English side!! West Indies is in revival mode, their Skipper Holder is an excellent player who leads from the front in both bowling & batting and is largely responsible for the turnaround in their fortunes.

Rohit botched up another chase with his selfish batting making it impossible for likes of Pant, Pandyas to have a realistic chance at the total. Reminded one of Prabhakar and Mongia batting. Rohit should be investigated for match fixing involvement given his lack of intent to hit sixes when needed.

38 off 32 balls, majority of them in powerplay on a small ground with no sixes is really unforgivable.

Rohit and Vijay did not deliver a single six in the powerplay on a smallish ground. Unforgivable!!

Imagine Pant had batted in the powerplay, he would have torn into the opposition, made Rohit look like a faltoo batsman.

What does the captain do? Have Vijay batting at #3 instead. India failed in both T20s where Vijay came at #3. When Pant came at #3, we won although the openers had already set the platform in that match.

even Smriti Mandhana was able to hit sixes on that ground yesterday.

Specially this is a ground in which even the women (example Smrithi Mandhana) are capable of hitting big shots, Rohit only had 3 boundaries with zero sixes.

Interesting. A level playing field(literally and otherwise) has emerged over the years. The GOATS can also be determined with reference to behaviour patterns on and off the field, charisma and other attributes by fans besides the banal number of wins. The discussions will go on just like our bo records like footfalls and collections.

Always an interesting debate to be had. I think there is a subtle difference between words in these debates. ‘Greatest’ and ‘best’ are different terms. Djokovic is heading towards being a superior tennis player to Federer but I’d consider the latter to be greater as Sanjana suggests there is more to being a GOAT.

Also for Federer so many changes like the Wimbledon courts and hardcourts have become more rally friendly that kind of plays into Nadal and Djokovic’s game rather than Federer plus on clay Federer will probably rank in top 5 ever anyway despite just 1 French Open win by virtue of being close to Nadal in an era when Nadal just wiped the floor with everyone on clay.

Pretty sure Djokovic will overhaul Federer’s 20 and maybe Nadal will equal it too. But Federer embodies that magic, pressure ala titans like Messi and Tendulkar which kind of keeps his name etched in the greatest club. Purists will definitely prefer him.

It’s like Guardiola will be preferred to any manager in last 30 years despite others winning more. But the impact of Guardiola on the sport and how things have changed, how he’s changed the sport etc is bigger than Ferguson, Mourinho or Lippi or whomever.

I really don’t understand why the gender test was not made public. Such a curious case. I don’t know where I stand on it without all the information. I guess if she is a man she shouldn’t race in womens races period. But if she’s a woman who has some rare phenomenal testosterone levels let her race. Is it not black and white or am I missing something?

Surely the integrity of the sport is of utmost importance. If she’s a man it’s cheating, means any man can claim to be female and just win events all day long. But again if she’s female god damn it leave her alone.

Legendary Danish shuttler Morten Frost feels India should be proud of producing top badminton stars in the current generation and felt that the breakthrough for that came through Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal.

“The big breakthrough in Indian men’s singles was through Kashyap. He was the first one to make himself noticed. Saina Nehwal came as well in women’s singles and [they] became good role models and that had a great influence on what happened in last 10 years,” he said.

Kudos to Sri Lanka for becoming the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa. They whitewashed Saffies in SA 2-0. SL won both matches chasing in 4th innings after conceding a lead in the frist innings. A point I have made of India’s abject surrender in 4th innings of a Test match before link below. I hope Ravi and Virat are taking notes. https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2018/10/29/the-sports-thread-3/#comment-483532

India could have won SA and England series if one more clicked. The difference was not much. Having said that SA and England batting has been suspect like India.Bowlers have been constant. If we remove Pujara from Australia series, result would have been opposite.

PS — left this tweet today: “Never have test cricket rankings meant so little: India beat Australia who beat Sri Lanka who beat SA who beat India who beat WI who beat Eng who beat SL and India! This has been the year of the yo-yo: glorious!”

why is rohit sharma still in A+ contract bracket. Virat and Bumrah are deserving, but not Rohit. He is a mediocre Test batsman while above average in ODI/T20.

Shami may be more deserving of A+ contracts along with Bhuvi.

Unfair to downgrade Bhuvi since he is no longer in scheme of things for Tests. Last Test he played at Joburg, he won India the Test with all round show of 63 runs with bat and 4/83 match figures for the two innings. He was deservingly named Man of the Match.

Zidane returns to manage Real Madrid. Bizarre sequence of events. From resigning, to Madrid taking Spain national manager on eve of World Cup (him getting sacked by Spain), to him getting sacked by Madrid after few months. Then ex player manages, gets sacked and back to Zidane. Zidane must be on a massive contract and promised a lot…probably 2-3 big players in summer.

Meanwhile this is what I got on my twitter feed few days ago.An alternate perspective which was scoffed at has now become a reality. Time is the best teacher and teaches us to accept that nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know…..

MSD and now Kohli have given India its rightful place in cricketing world and shown personal milestone don’t mean much……….during 4th ODI with Khawaja and Handcomb in their 80s Mr.Sanjay Manjrekar ” Now both the batsmen must be looking at their hundreds and the scoring rate will slow down.” Just shows the thinking of most of the Indian cricketers where personal milestones came first even with some of the best. The Australian commentator of course contradicted him immediately.

In fact Handscomb didn’t slow down, and Khwaja got out in his nineties going for runs….

When a batsman of this era bats against likes of Waqar, Akram, McGrath and co plus relative adjustments made for cricket rules we can have a discussion. Right now its like comparing the net collection of Uri with Gadar. We know the latter is a blockbuster of all time, the former accounting for many things is not fair to consider better. Carry on, throw all stats but the biggest problem is bowling is not in same league as 20 years ago nor bowling conditions or batting conditions.

Batsman are privileged today like a box office comparing exercise to films 20 years ago – you need to account for tax changes, inflation and God knows what else – otherwise its a comparison for stupid people.

Mohammad Azharuddin’s decision to make Sachin Tendulkar open in ODIs – because Navjot Sidhu, the regular opener, had a stiff neck – proved a turning point in Tendulkar’s career, and India’s ODI history. In his first match opening, in Auckland, Tendulkar blazed 82 off 49 balls. In 344 matches as an opener, he made 15,310 runs at 48.29 (and 45 of his 49 ODI hundreds) as compared to 3116 at 33 from 119 matches in which he batted lower down.

I don’t get much time to go deep in stats as blogs/twitter/ clips continue to be my means for a breather at work to get mind off some of the stress.

This opening slot thing had lingered my mind when I was an active follower of cricket and how it had benefited Tendulkar with his risky aerial shots where even players like Gilchrist, Saeed Anwar were making hay.There were many players who could open the innings and team required someone with sounder batting technique to bat at no 3 or 4 but he complained to the higher up and got his favorite spot back.

The meanness to occupy a slot stuck me and I never got on board with Tendulkar again. There is a certain amount of dynamism required for a public figure to stand out in my eyes. This where Gavaskar too lost favor and was accused for during the Kapil Dev era…..which I had gotten over due to savviness of Gavaskar while commentating but found him “short” once again very recently for not joining and celebrating the ’83 World Cup winning side on The Kapil Sharma show. He only joined via an airlink from Goa which is just a few hours away from Mumbai where the shoot took place and he could have easily been with his team members esp so since this is the first time they were assembling together. Same with Ravi Shastri who chose to stay out…

It’s incredible to believe Tendulkar’s calling was the middle order despite his opening records. Yes he got the advantage of a powerplay but there are advantages coming in at 5, 6 or 7. Or whatever. Would advise that it’s sensible to back up the nonsense with some due diligence on numbers otherwise we can claim literally ‘anything’.

I tend to agree that if you get chance at top you have more opportunities but it is also fact that Shikar Dhawan or Rohit Sharma cannot become Tendulkar or one down batsman of past cannot become Kohli. You need to be good to be counted in great. Problems happens when we start comparing different era in “absolute terms”. I think better parameter should be how much ahead you are of the competition. But this also goes out of Window if we consider Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. All three could be considered greatest in isolation.

If you ask me I will put even Viv Richards ahead of Kohli in ODI in terms of chasing down totals, destructive power. I must admit Kohli is very reliable within conventional batting and will break every record in ODI.

I do agree modern cricket has taken the sting is out from the bowlers and gone are the days of hostility but this has been the case for a good 25 years where batsmen have dominated with shorter boundaries, quality of bats, better guards, and new techniques plus restrictions on field placement.

Notwithstanding the stats listed Kohli’s sheer consistency & mind boggling track record while chasing in a winning cause is beyond any comparison. Though aided by MSD’s expertise even as a Captain, Kohli’s record is truly phenomenal. He is setting the bar at an unprecedented level.

Dude – take the top 10 bowlers today and compare them to 25 years ago. Standards are woeful. BUT you can only beat what is in front of you so Kohli isn’t at fault. He’s phenomenal and undoubtedly he’ll thrash ODI records but no bowlers exclusive to a non Tendulkar era is going to stack up against some 10 bowlers from back then. Account for smaller grounds, transformation of T20 and bowling rule changes – you’ve got a cocktail of reasons why batting averages for many batsmen today are better than Tendulkar’s. 26 players averages more than Tendulkar’s, only Greenidge, Richards played before Tendulkar’s debut! Everyone else, some 24 players average more than Tendulkar – so by your logic (which is pretty dumbed down) they are all better!

The only ‘active’ bowlers with an average better than McGrath is Starc unless you want to count 2 Afghan bowlers and 1 Bangladeshi. And McGrath himself is 23rd on the list only beaten by bowlers before him or IF after him they are Afghan or Bangladeshi!

Cricket has been evolving since ages and these adjustments were never calibrated while celebrating the ‘God of Cricket’. I am from the school of thought where a Viv Richards will remain the greatest ever just by sheer dominance and attitude. I have written so much earlier tt adulation for Tendulkar never matched the performance of Indian side and desired results never achieved in line of the greatness talk which MSD and now Kohli have brought that to the forefront. Now Indian games / run-chases are in line with what Aussies (regularly) or Pakis in their peak were doing with Imran or Miandad.

Just batting at a different order brought so much heartaches and the tiff with Azhar is on record when Tendulkar was asked to bat down the order per needs of the team and he got upset and only wanted to open the innings where his airy style of shotmaking took advantage of the field restrictions introduced in the initial 10/15 overs. Records/ milestones are secondary and Indian never learnt winning matches the way they do now and dominate on the field.

It is still going to be a tight affair, I guess. Pochetino’s Spurs are very athletic and a lot of their game is based on endurance. City are favourites and have the potential to win the competition but they have some tough fixtures around this tie.

In a spell of 19 days, City play Spurs 3 times (league and CL), Manchester Utd, Burnley and Crystal Palace away. Spurs are on a 21 days break right now before they face Liverpool at the end of the month. Freshness may prove to be key.

Of the 4 quarter finals, I feel this may be the closest one, even if City remain favourites.

Juventus and Liverpool should ease through. Manchester United have a chance but I’d expect Barcelona to blow them away in one match. Likewise I can’t see Spurs hanging with Manchester City for 180 minutes. That league game will be important as well in deciding the title and top 4 places. The curve ball is Spurs in a new stadium and if that’s a plus or minus. I think City have too much choice and will probably hammer Spurs in one match.

My favourite teams all there; spurs, Barcelona and Juventus in that order but now as Ronaldo plays for Juventus my likeness is lower. I was a huge fan of 90’s Juventus with Del Piero and co.

Juventus and Liverpool should qualify. Barcelona will most probably be in the semis as well. Utd have improved a lot under Solskjaer and showed great character against PSG but they really rode their luck as well. I don’t think it is going to be enough against Barcelona.

During the last few fixtures, City have beaten Spurs comfortably. But City are playing on several fronts, so there may be an upset somewhere especially if there is lack of fresh legs. Right now, it looks like City but of all the ties this looks like the closest one.

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why [the press] questioned his sportsmanship. The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out? By backing up too far or too early, the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage.”

New law is coming into effect 1st April 2019 where batsman has to remain in crease until ball is released.

Current law:https://www.lords.org/mcc/laws/unfair-playIf the non-striker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one in the over.

If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as possible.

There is a slight change to Law 41.16, which should further confirm the principle, established in the 2017 Code, that it is the non-striker’s duty to remain in his/her ground until the bowler has released the ball.

clearly Buttler was taking the game away and Ashwin played a cheapo! shame……he could have warned B… on the other hand, ICC need to work on this rule – either just remove that rule or emphasize more to batsmen who loiter around the crease…

A day after the incident, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla took to Twitter and said that it had been decided in one of the meetings between Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni that the non-striker will never be run out even if there’s an opportunity for the bowlers.

“If I remember in one of the meetings of captains & match referee where I was also present as chairman it had been decided that if non striking batsman steps out bowler as a courtesy will not run him out.

It sparked a huge uproar and divided the cricketing world. While Ashwin maintained that he had acted according to the laws of the game, former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne slammed the offie for this disgraceful act.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ashwin said of the incident: “Look, it was very instinctive. On my part, it was very instinctive. It was not planned or anything like that. It’s there within the rules of the game. I don’t understand where the spirit of the game comes, naturally if it’s there in the rules it’s there.”

Speaking to IANS, a senior BCCI official said that only cricketing skills should be used on the pitch to dismiss batsmen and that gives out the correct message to those watching and learning.

“The match officials have failed in their duty with the handling of this issue. Buttler ought to have been adjudged not out if the laws were applied squarely to the situation. Ashwin also must understand that laws and the spirit of the game both have to be kept in mind.

Kagiso Rabada’s yorker to Andre Russell will be Ball of the IPL: Sourav Ganguly
With just 11 to get for a Super Over win, Kolkata Knight Riders sent in the rampaging Andre Russell but Kagiso Rabada, though under pressure, produced a fast inswinging yorker that castled the Jamaican.

“Kagiso Rabada’s Super Over and the ball that he bowled to Andre Russell is probably going to be the ball of the IPL. To bowl that kind of a delivery to Andre Russell, who is probably in the form of his life, is unbelievable,” Ganguly told IPLT20.com.

This surpasses any comeback story ever surely. I don’t know the history of all sports but given the technical skills required for golf and the shame on Woods plus he was already on 14 majors at what 33 years old. To comeback after devastating injuries and win the biggest prestige major – no one could write this better. The recent spurt of racist scandals hurting football all of Europe – Tiger Woods is the most popular living black sportsman and is probably gunning for more glory I hope. Glad it happened, he came close last year but here at least 10 guys were in the mix late on and he cranked up a gear which spells trouble for everyone now.

Spoke to @TigerWoods to congratulate him on the great victory he had in yesterday’s @TheMasters, & to inform him that because of his incredible Success & Comeback in Sports (Golf) and, more importantly, LIFE, I will be presenting him with the PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM!

India coach Ravi Shastri has reopened the debate about the highly contentious number 4 slot in the Indian team as he said that apart from the top 3, every other position in the Indian team’s playing XI for the World Cup remains flexible. The comment comes just days after chief selector MSK Prasad stated that Vijay Shankar is being considered for the number 4 slot, after announcing the 15-member squad.

“Total flexibility (on No.4 position) depending on conditions, opposition. I would say the top three… but after that you can be very flexible,” Ravi Shastri was quoted as saying by Sport360.

The comment comes in at a time when the selection of Vijay Shankar over Ambati Rayudu has caused a lot of debate. Rayudu himself made a cryptic comment on Twitter, which was a dig at the chief selector’s statement that Shankar was a ‘three-dimensional’ player.

The Hyderabadi, who was ignored in favour of all-rounder Vijay Shankar, Tuesday created a frenzy by tweeting that he plans to buy 3D glasses to watch the showpiece which begins May 30 in the UK.

The 3D reference came a day after chairman of selectors MSK Prasad cited Shankar’s “three-dimensional qualities” to justify his selection. The BCCI brass has taken a note but since it wasn’t a direct criticism of the selection policy, the parent body wants to let it go.

“We have taken note of what Rayudu has tweeted. (But) Let’s accept that emotions are running high at this moment. There is bound to be disappointment and there needs to be an outlet of expression as long as it’s not out of line,” a senior BCCI said on Wednesday.

@BumbleCricket have you seen a worse umpiring decision than this? Alex Blake given out after Hasan Ali dropped a dolly then pretended he’d caught it. What’s worse – the umpiring or the cheating? pic.twitter.com/gPEDprEDBr

Loved the win. It’s a 3-0 win against a really very strong team. I have rarely seen an away team controlling such long spells of the game at the Nou Camp. The difference was that we were very clinical. 4 shots on goal and we scored 3 times while they did not not take their chances.

And the main difference is once again Messi. He once again shows he is the best one around.

It is still going to be a tough game for the return leg. We have to prevent them from scoring an early goal. If they do so, it may end up being tough. Valverde is spot on when he said that we must learn from last year’s exit against Roma.

Yes. Wife desperately wanted something to ease pain but things moved so fast it was impossible. The time from early labour to delivery was very quick and on the way my wife was mooning the public from the car.

2 nights of near miracles. Liverpool’s was less unlikely at start but Spurs being 3 down with 45mins to play is up there with great football comebacks. The Champions League this season has been the best ever in terms of thrilling results and shocks.
I hope the final is a dull 1-0 to Spurs. If we hadn’t named our baby boy it would be Lucas for sure!

that was a thriller of an IPL final:
– they shd sack useless and biased commentators like Manjerakar an laxman Siva. Harsha still remains the best there and he was missing!
– Rayudu, Raina, Jadeja…..all useless players in CSK – Dhoni brought them till final but….MI was a balanced team however they have still not used Pollard and Bravo in batting…annoying captaincy….

Only ipl match I watched. A thriller for sure. Felt csk should have won given they got off to a flier. Dhoni run out was clearly the match moment, running him out is not easy at all. Looked a run out from front angle.

I’m not sure about the rules but I figured all you need is evidence or in this case 1 view to show he was out. The angle of bat was such that views from side were not conclusive but umpires side front view was enough for out. If not sure I think it’s unfair to allow 2 runs…maybe just play the ball again.

Even Raina’s ‘sounded’ out but no evidence for 3rd umpire to give it. It would be unfair to go against technology. Cricket rules are black and white not like handball rule in football. I’m pretty sure if the referee saw 1 shot of Llorente handball decision vs Manchester City he may have ruled goal out and I would not be so happy right now! But he didn’t get that shot!

For Dawood Ibrahim, match-fixing was a sort of ‘clean job’ as no force or killing were required and only a few players here and there had to be ‘fixed’ and the money shared, says a new book on the subject.

“On the whole, Dawood’s entry into the fixing game was fairly easy to understand. The appeal of this additional revenue stream would be pretty obvious even to the average gangster. They did not have to tapkao (kill) anybody by way of some contractual killing. No land-grabbing was involved. No slum had to be forcibly evacuated. No tenant had to be threatened to make way for some developer,” it says.

Klopp is the miracle worker at Liverpool, no doubt about that. 97 points in the PL and winning the CL this season. Also made it to finals in each of his European campaign there. They were not even 2nd tier in Europe post Rafa Benitez.

But Jay, don’t be too disheartened by the defeat in the final. Pochettino is doing a very good job at Spurs and it was a remarkable achievement to reach the final. I wouldn’t have bet on Spurs reaching the final at the start of the campaign. But they are the major surprise package of this year’s CL (along with Ajax).

It would be important for Spurs to keep hold of Pochettino. Give him the funds to strengthen. You may build on the experience of this campaign like Liverpool did.

I have heard some reports Pochettino may leave. And Eriksen and Alderweid as well. Are these reports credible? I hope you strengthen instead of losing important members of this campaign.

Alderweireld has a £25mm release clause activated this summer so likely to leave. He is 30 and hasn’t agreed a contract.
Eriksen is being courted by Madrid and is in the last year of his contract, again hasn’t agreed any new terms.
Both likely to leave.
Poch wants to be sure that there will be investment in the team and will stay I think. Liverpool are in a different situation now. They can afford or are willing to pay £75mm on a CB. Spurs won’t do this with a stadium to pay off. This fortunate run has helped a lot, Arsenal didn’t have this 10 years ago. The key for Spurs is to sell 1-2 players but buy 3-5 to keep Poch and build for another 2 years.

The need for an alternative jersey arose after International Cricket Council issued a guideline before the start of the Word Cup, requiring teams to have two different uniforms for all its televised tournaments except hosts England.

“For televised ICC events all participating teams will be required to provide for two different coloured kits, except for the host country who has a preference in the choice of colour and may, if it chooses to do so, provide only one coloured kit to be worn in all matches throughout the event. In advance of the event the teams will be notified which coloured kit will be worn in each match,” the ICC had said in a release.

The India’s blue jersey clashes with England’s blue, and therefore Virat Kohli and his team will be seen in orange on June 30 at Edgbaston. Similarly, India could take the field in orange colours against Afghanistan whose jersey is also predominantly blue. In the rest of the game, India will wear blue as usual.

South African players donned their usual greens against England in the tournament opener but in their following game against Bangladesh, they wore a jersey which was predominantly yellow. Bangladesh’s main jersey is also predominantly green.

Bangladesh in fact had become the first team to unveil its alternative uniform ahead of the World Cup with red replacing the green. Afghanistan is another team which has already unveiled its second jersey.

The concept of multiple jerseys has been inspired from club football in which players choose their colour on a home and away basis.

Maxwell and Carey looked threatening…MoM are mostly loaded in favor of batsman. I think it should be based on pitch. yesterday was flat wicket so a bowler should get consideration above batsman. In previous match where scoring was difficult, batsman should be considered over bowler.

Regular 340-350 plus scores in this World Cup once again highlight the fact that the as incorrectly feared earlier, the format that’s suffered the most from the corrosive T20 game is the 50 over format and not Test Cricket. Test Cricket has been the elusive, exclusive thinking man’s game right from the 70’s & 80’s ever since ODI cricket made rapid strides as a commercially viable format for the mass audiences. Analogous to Hindi cinema, Test Cricket is in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee/Shoojit Sircar mold which had, has and will continue to have its own limited yet dedicated patronizing from an exclusive bunch of budding young cricketers as well as cricket fans. That’s the exact reason why despite the onslaught of T-20 cricket, we still have the likes of C. Pujara and Kane Williamson among others always ready to sweat it out in the 5 day format. 50 over cricket however has taken a huge hit due to T-20 because today’s 14 year old budding cricketer who wants to make a mark playing the limited over’s format and whose not bothered about the red ball format (like the Ajay Jadeja’s and M. Bevan’s of the yore) starts off with the T-20 format (for obvious financial attraction) and plays 50 over cricket as an after thought. From a top down format like what the Kohli’s and Dhoni’s generation followed, these guys are practicing the bottom up format, thereby making the 50 over game nothing more than an extended, non attractive version of the T-20 format with bowlers being reduced to nothing but bowling machines. Test Cricket still retains its limited yet exclusive glory but the 50 over game seems to be fading sooner than we thought.

not at all – he is Viv Richards like prodigy in making as far as batting is concerned. Clean hitter of the ball. What an aggressive approach to the game. Let him be a batsman first and a part-time bowler.

When u give more significance to a corrosive T-20 format than the more competitive 50 over game, bring in the boundaries by 15 yards, tweak the rules & make a circus of the ODI game by making bowlers look like clowns & then play 10 teams in a World Cup event where half the games have a threat of being washed out! Shame on the ICC – International Cricket Council for ruining the Gentleman’s game.

I dont have complaints. Rohit Sharma batted very well and broke Dhoni’s record, it seems. And Kohli also broke Sachin’s record though it is not fair to compare without taking into consideration other factors. But a record is a record. That is why Salman is on top. I was watching Manchester skies, clouds and enthusiastic Indians. There were very few pakistani flags or supporters unlike in the past. Have the Pakistanis lost interest in their team?
Saw Saif. Saw one joker with Gavaskar and then realised who he is.

Duckworth Lewis is a farce. Pakistan mentally struggle for whatever reason. They get into decent situations like 117 for 1 after a few boundaries – I don’t know if it’s excitement or pressure or nerves but they just fold.

136 odd of 30 balls makes a joke of DWL. DWL is a farce as no team has probably hit that many runs to win a match off that many balls EVER with 4 wickets left so no model should give that run chase. Not that I’d have bet on Pakistan anyway but that’s ruined the match.

To put in context how farcical DWL is…Chris Gayle’s scored the fastest century ever @ 30 balls. So Pakistan have to repeat that but score 36 RUNS MORE and not with Chris Gayle but their tail! Utter nonsense and no logic.

I think DL has problem that it calculates from start than at that specific point of game where game has stopped. So 136 sounds problem but it assumes you should have scored at brisker pace till that point.

It also accounts for wickets in hand. In this situation you have 2 choices. The 30 ball match or don’t play and India win. In the former if this is the choice it’s got to be something a data point or team in history of ODI has achieved. Maybe in this case 75 off 30 with 4 wickets.

Any model has to be back tested for reasonability. Here the result near 100% certain with DWL. Without rain it was 99% certain.

I don’t know how it is done but I thought there is DL for each over for team batting second. For example Pakistan was 40 run short at 128 around 27th over. At 166/6 (35 over) the par score was 252 (86 runs). Now when game resumed, it became 5 overs 136 runs!

Kuldeep’s delivery to dismiss Babar was a stunning ball. Tossed up at just 78 kph it drew Babar forward before pitching and spinning sharply by 5.80° to rip back through the gate and bowl him. A game-changing moment by a game-changing bowler. #CWC19pic.twitter.com/rl66laO6vM

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar expressed his frustration after the defeat via a video on his Youtube channel, launching a scathing attack on captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowler Hasan Ali. Akhtar pointed out that Sarfaraz appeared a ‘brainless’ skipper when he opted to field first after winning the toss.

“The mistakes committed by the Indian team during the Champions Trophy 2017 final were repeated by Pakistan yesterday. I can’t understand how Sarfaraz can be so brainless. How could he forget that we don’t chase very well. Knowing our strength, which is bowling, is important. The game was half-won by Pakistan when Sarfaraz won the toss, but he tried hard to lose the match. Toss was very crucial and even if Pakistan had made 260, with their bowling, they could have defended it. So I think it was just brainless captaincy. It’s a very saddening and disheartening performance from the Pakistan team captain. I wanted to see shades of Imran Khan in him but it’s too late for him now,” lamented Akhtar.

I have always felt uncomfortable about India’s performance in this world cup though they have 3 wins against their name. They have NEVER looked a killer team. And now their performance against AFGHANISTAN proves it.

India were lucky today. They are not convincing but it’s still halfway through the tournament. It’s tough losing Dhawan to injury. Sharma for me is crucial now because he is the only one after Kohli who is a big scorer.
Bumrah is some bowler.

India wins matches against the strongest teams like South Africa, Australia, Pakistan.
Not a hint of struggle there. And then what happens? It almost loses to a country that has till date lost all its matches.
None of the top batsmen perform except Virat. The run rate is sluggish and they don’t even try to push it up. Not even once while they are batting.

My theory is that the idea was to make it a thriller down to its last ball so the odds could swing either way, and bookies could make as much money as they could on it. Because otherwise what’s the fun in watching an India Afghanistan match? Half the Indian TV sets would otherwise be switched off because they’d be certain the minnows would be wiped away in the contest.

It’s not like the India Pakistan match or an India Australia contest where everyone likes to see India win a comprehensive victory. Hence it was “made” to be an exciting game where India struggles but ultimately wins in the end. And how? With a hat-trick by Shami!

Day 1 – Opening night – spectacular – cheerleaders from IPL and from wherever the hell they manage to find people to pollute this game – get them and make them dance naked or with clothes – men or women #Metoo

Day 2 – A complimentary match between Australia 11 and local Australian clubs like QUEENSLAND CRICKET ASSOCIATION or SCARBOROUGH. Australian national team wins by default since the local clubs lose by DLS equation requiring the local team to score 22 runs of 1 ball.

Day 3 – Further cheer-leading and dance options: This time, get Aishwarya, Amitabh, SRK, Google driver, and Aamir to dance along with the Ambanis and Tatas. Hell, get Hugh Jackman and Kidman and Crowe as well: Hand-over the cup. Everybody happy and everyone goes home happy. The game of Cricket lives and breathes.

He has strong opinions about Indian cricket — just like he has strong opinions in general. Although he has his favourites from the current team — he loves MS Dhoni — he dislikes the brand of boorishness that the new bunch represents. Last year in December, in a sharp-tongued comment on his Facebook account, he described Kohli as being “not only the world’s best batsman but also the world’s worst-behaved player” — ending with a sly “And I have no intention of leaving the country by the way”.

The 68-year-old actor isn’t even that active on social media, but his outburst was triggered by two incidents: Kohli’s sledging spat with Australian captain Tim Paine, when the two went nose-to-nose during a Test, followed by the Indian cricket captain’s suggestion to a fan that he “should leave India” when the latter said that he preferred Australian and England batsmen over Indian players. One of the hate mails he received after the comment on Kohli threatened to put “baarood up his ass”.

“His temper seems to have gone down,” he said about Kohli, “But still you see him mouthing obscenities on TV all the time, when he takes a catch, or gets run out, Behnchod Behnchod, all the time yaar. Children are watching this. We are going to have Shivaji park resounding with Behnchod Behnchod. Each one of those kids going Behn…” he said, with that bassy, sardonic laugh of his.

How I love it when the 6-footed, cocky-idiot and mentally-dwarfed Imran Khan has his head up his ass!!!

—–

But the netizens were quick to pick the Prime Minister’s mistake and started making fun of him.

Most of the Twitter users teased Khan for his poor knowledge and asked him to confirm things before going public.

“Mr Khan it doesn’t hurt to Google a quote if you are not into reading. By copying a Tagore’s quote and attributing it to Khalil Gibran, you are not only getting mocked but you are making a laughing stock of the country in the process! Please!” wrote journalist Murtaza Solangi.

“Another gem from Imran Khan’s trove of knowledge, shares Tagore’s work and calls it work of Kahlil Gibran,” wrote another.

Khan has made headline in recent months for lack of knowledge or slip of to ..

What a pathetic batting display by South Africa. The writing on the wall is almost clear: Unless somebody comes up and plays like he is on drugs. Chockers. Very sad to see SA lose. They are not even having the basic intelligence to see of Amir and just keep getting singles from him and take on other bowlers.

SA batting has been suspect for sometime…When India lost test series there were only 1-2 batsmen who scored..
Only De Kock has been somewhat consistent but he needs to score more on these relatively flat wickets.

Extremely sad for SA. But I think this is what happens. There are teams that are ‘KHUJLI’ teams: i.e., they don’t win the world cup or any prestigious tournament but they ensure that the better teams are kicked out – SA is typically the team that Arundhati Nag refers to in GIRISH KARNAD’s BROKEN IMAGES play: This is what she calls her husband – and SA has typically become that — AADMI BAHUT ACCHA HAI PAR KISI KAAM KA NAHI HAI!!!

The only times when a team has made other pay is PAKISTAN – in that fluke win in 1992 and the brutal attack on Virat’s intelligence and arrogance in the Champions Trophy…

Australia fielding never dipped; their bowling was always good; batting was bad with sudden expulsion of two batmen. I guess India somewhat helped them by giving away 2 matches in India series and they slowly regained their confidence.

The Dhoni conundrum is a problem. He’s taking up far too many balls in regular matches where India can still score a big total. It’s getting too much into a routine now of how he plays. His own unpredictability has become obsolete. Losing Dhawan has created a gap. All this really does is help Australia! Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Actually Dhoni did well in a steady manner and took the total to a respectable one. He is not flashy and he need not be. Today he really did well. And West Indies were in a good form fielding and bowling well in that order.

It’s going to be a tight match and in the end the score is par. I’m not sure if Dhoni should be displaying his disciplined game so often, he is a far better attacking player and his opposition actually fears this side more. 56 off 61, 5 boundaries is going to look good if India win. Against a stronger batting side India will need to hit bigger scores closer to or above 300.

yes today he stepped up. The point though is that the kinds of scores that are often needed today to be ‘safe’, you can’t just hang around if you’re not adding seriously to the total. Unless it’s a tough pitch but that goes without saying.

Dhoni’s problems with the bat have been there for very long. No one addresses the elephant in the room because he won the world cup. If u remove his 91 in the final, he had struggles even then. It’s been 8 years now!
Virat deserves better support

He did fairly okay in Australia series in Australia…
Commented elsewhere..

I would love Dhoni to rotate strikes but he is not a talented batsmen like others and his reflexes have slowed down…if you want to keep him in team then you have to take some chances as Kohli suggested.. one thing is clear he is not going to give wicket easily. As Ganguly pointed (after WI match) Dhoni likes to take the match towards end and get things done. In last match he failed and we were 20 short. This match would have been same but for missed stumping (that was early, he was on 8 when WI missed)… he got his chance and managed to put decent total.

If you expect him to bat like Dhoni of past era, it is not going to happen. He certainly can hit big sixes and boundaries if he survives till end.

MS Dhoni was named player-of-the-series after scoring 193 runs from 3 one-day internationals against Australia. Dhoni scored 51, 55 not out and 87 not out in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne as India sealed their first ever bilateral ODI series in Australia.

#4 position – Shankar at best is a bits and pieces player. To have him follow Kohli in batting is a big ask. It’s not that he has been bowling regularly

Dhoni strike rate in middle overs – Too many dot balls played by the master to take it deep.

Long tail – Shami, Bumrah, Kuldeep, Chahal none are reliable batsmen

Pandya the 3rd seamer – not quite in same standards as Shami, Bumrah. Batsmen of other teams sense he is the weak link and go after him. He needs to up his game with the ball. Maybe open bowling with Hardik and get Bumrah as first change to put pressure in the middle overs

Kuldeep & Chahal – not quite getting super results as one would have hoped. They need to pull up their socks

Anyways, Shami and Bumrah are one lethal pair. Best India has ever had. It was great watching them yesterday against Windies

rest Dhoni, Pandya, Bumrah who are certainties for the knockouts and get Pant/DK, Jadeja, Bhuvi to give remainder of squad a chance to perform like Shami who took the smallest of openings with both hands. They will be a threat to non performing players such as Shankar, Jadhav, Kuldeep, Chahal (who deserve more opportunities so not dropping them in the remaining of round robin matches)

Damn you Sri Lanka. First you open up the CWC by beating England, then you catapult against flop team of the CWC South Africa. Now you have given hopes and opened doors to two lousy teams in Bangladesh and Pakistan who don’t deserve to be in last 4

Recently Egyptian fans did the same after their African Cup of Nations fixture. Japan and Senegal supporters were also seen cleaning the stadium after their FIFA World Cup match during the previous edition in 2018.

On Wednesday during Pakistan’s clash against New Zeland, which the Asian side won by six wickets, several Pakistani fans stayed back after the match and were seen collecting trash from the Edgbaston stands. This was a refreshing sight as fans normally rush to the streets to celebrate their team’s victory but these supporters set an example for the ones who litter.

Anti Vadivelu of Indian cricket Vijay Shankar #PrayforNesamani. If Nesamani has all the bad luck, Shankar has been riding his good luck till now right from his near botch up in Nidahas trophy just to be rescued by Dinesh Karthik

I believe Aussies (given that OZ and English are firm enemies) and Kiwis would also be supporting India. Kiwis so an easier opponent in Knock Out in Pakistan and extract revenge for the beating earlier.

USA and Trump will love any English bashing. What about Germany, France, Japan, Koreas?

to be very honest, I have never been a fan of Sachin! he is great and all that is fine. But I like sportsman who have tremendous positive approach to the game – hence fond of likes of Kohli, Richards, Kapil, Lara, Russel, Pandya brand of cricketrs….and Kohli to me the best thing which has happened to Indian cricket

dhoni’s career is officially over now – the man has lost the INTENT.
He must be forced to retire now.
But what abt likes of Kedar Jadhav, Rahul? these ppl have no body language or intent of limited over cricket.

I haven’t been a Dhoni fan for a long time, however he is a class player. But today is my worry about him. Sharma, Kohli are playing to win but Dhoni as the senior player is making their innings pointless. Playing for net run rate or to knock Pakistan out- whatever. That Indian middle order is terrible. You take out Kohli and sharma then India will lose…

every great player has an expiry date. And Dhoni seems to be missing the point here. No one wants him to hang on till the end. make a quick 20-30 runs and get out – no problem. But show the intent. His face is completely like a dejected man these days – he might be going thru some inner battle but then pl. retire gracefully. Such an iconic player and is already creating a negative name for himself. Look at pandya, virat, rohit…..
But i m more furious with likes of Rahul and Jahdav – what r these ppl doing in the team???

well, we have a long tail in chahal, kuldeep, bumrah, shami. probably the pacers do justify thier selection with the wickets and tight spell, i would think Indian management may consider replacing one of the wrist spinners with jadeja

Well, all tried their best. I dont think that intent was not there. One need not be an actor showing intent on his face. Dhoni is not srk or akshay.
Losing one match after so many matches will make Indian team to work harder and strategise.
Dont forget England won the toss and chose to bat first and made a big total too.
Chasing such a big total after standing for hours bowling and fielding is quite exhausting sometimes. We were almost there.

Sanjana, becoz we have seen Dhoni (he was what pandya is today) – so it is obvious we want to see him that way – and no one is asking him to act! he is ageing now and he has to accept that.
And this is happening to all 3 khans also in bollywood.
It has happened to all the superstars of yore. Some accepted and had a graceful exit but some where forced to exit…..

One TOH, knives were out for Aamir. One defeat, knives are out for not selecting someone and selecting someone. If we want to win every match, we need perfectly trained robots and not imperfect human beings. Big hitters like Rohit Sharma and Kohli have made us want everyone to be like them. Did we win the other matches against perfect teams or imperfect teams? At the end of it, luck also plays its part. On the one hand we dont want Pakistan in semis but when that happens like yesterday, we are outraged. Aakhir kya chahte hai hum? There is no praise for Shami who took 5 wickets because he gave away runs and gave us a psychological edge.

Shami was leaking runs against Bangladesh too. He needs to learn to bowl in the death with change of pace slow off cutters, knuckle ball etc. Given his experience, it is not acceptable he has not added to his armory

You are completely wrong. This is an exercise in just exposing the weaknesses of the Indian team. I have hardly any doubt that the Indian team will not win this cup. I would, obviously, love to be proven wrong.

Any sane cricket-follower would agree that with Dhawan gone, the middle-order with a very weak back-bone is exposed. The frailties of the Indian team are exposed, FOR ALL. Opposition teams will vulture-fuck on it. That’s cruel; but that’s a fact.

In fact, the team of 2015 was far more brutal and terrific! They only lost since Kohli’s wicket was a big dampener when he fell against Australia in 1-digit.

why r they not playing Jadeja???? that Rahul is fielding as if he is doing a very big favor! and the way he blocks the ball at the open is the most ridiculous thing I have seen – he simply kills the tempo and spirit…..Kedar Jadhav is a liability! kohli does not give him bowling also – so why not play Jadeja instead? Give Vijay Shankar few more chances

Cricket World Cup 2019: Fret, fume, moan… In the end England show composure to stay alive
For four years they did everything they could: made a stubborn aggressive Irishman as captain, overhauled all the pitches to make them batting friendly, agreed to release their players to go to IPL, and learned the ODI game.

ICC World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli criticizes ‘bizarre’ and ‘crazy’ short boundary of Edgbaston after defeat to England
India had expressed their reservations about the shorter side of the boundary at the start of the game. India’s coaching staff and Virat Kohli were seen having a word with the head groundsman of Edgbaston regarding the dimensions of the ground before toss on Sunday.

Terming the shorter side of the Edgbaston boundary ‘bizarre’ and ‘crazy’, India captain Virat Kohli on Sunday went on to point fingers at the dimensions of the ground, which he believed helped the England openers more at the start of the match. Kohli did not directly refer the short 59-meter boundary on one side as one of the reasons behind India’s 31-run defeat to England, but the Indian captain made no efforts to hide his displeasure about the same.

Cricinfo :
PP: “This is not going to go well for DK. Top 3 will score heavily & DK will not get a chance to bat. He will not bowl either & with Dhoni he is not going keep as well. So, he just made appearance today in a world-cup match with nothing much & goes back to bench in the next match. Feel sorry for him”

Indian will again be below 320. Really, really, the team is deteriorating by each and every match. Dhoni is hell bent on keeping the strike against Murtaza!!! Fuck it. Now he’s gone. Watsed 3 balls. Digusting.

This is NO way a world class team. Dhone is being booed – and deserves it.

The issue is team selection and order of batting. If you play Karthik what point having him at #7. He’s got to be at least #5. Otherwise play Jadeja and beef up bowling. Anyway 60 odd from last 10 overs is really poor with what 4 down. Openers should be angry today as they set up platform for at least 350.

Felt like India tried to correct Sunday today so players are really under pressure. Slog overs are 40 onwards. Before then let batsman play and set up innings. Pandya could have waited but I think India thought we’ll get loads here only to fall quickly.

Dhoni is past his best but still has a role, problem is what is this role? If he’s run a ball centuries as opener it’s fine and if he’s steading a sinking ship it’s fine. He’s doing neither. If you’re coming in at 5, 6 or 7 and have 30 to 40 balls it’s got to be striking at 100 to 150 depending on difficulty, maybe more. Pant did it today. Rest didn’t. Not just Dhoni but Karthik, Pandya too.

India looks clueless when India is on backfoot without Dhoni behind wicket guiding..Infact I will prefer Rohit as Captain in tough situations.
ex – Ind vs Aus series in India. India lost 3-2 after taking 2-0 lead.

But last 2-3 year Dhoni is no longer finisher; And everyone’s time come to end..I guess Dhoni also would hang up after WC. One thing I have said, Dhoni doesn’t give away wicket. Not long back a match in DharamShala where Lakmal was unplayable India put decent score with his not so beautiful technique. I think he is getting unfair amount of criticism based on expectation that he would perform like past. He certainly could be dropped in favor of Pant or Kartik .

Having said that there are too many cricket experts who want to analyze and we tend to get emotional at every loss.

“I felt it was an important innings and he (MS Dhoni) did exactly what was right for the team. If he stays till the 50th over, he can help other guys around him. He is expected to do that and he did that,” Sachin told India Today.

“For him, it is more about the team. Whatever is the need of the hour, one needs to do that and on Tuesday, he did that perfectly,” he further added.

Tendulkar? 62 runs off final 10 overs is good enough to beat Bangladesh. Unless India is saving themselves for semi and final, I think they are going home in semi. Hope I’m wrong. They will want to avoid England in semi. That semi is at Edgbaston where the dimensions are tricky, for India only. They could top the group if SA best Australia and face Pakistan and reboot Old Trafford part II. I want England out today, to me they are the danger team no one wants.

I think Rohit Sharma has an unnecessary bad rap. Guy smacks hundreds and double tons for fun. Always thought he’s as close to Sehwag as India got. His record is ignored easily as Kohli’s is even more extraordinary. A century from an opener is pretty much setting the team up for a big score as one end is occupied by a man in form for maximum of innings. Others around that guy need to make sure they capitalise.

Sharma’s hit 4 centuries in 7 innings. Can’t do much more than that in WC. One more and it’s a record.

122*, 57, 140, 1, 18, 102 and 104. Only against Afghanistan and WI he’s faltered. If he clicks it gives India better chances. A century should guarantee 250 minimum total, a big century 300 so long as opposite end is doing same.

Just like cabinet expansions to accommodate more ministers, just like filmi awards accommodating as many as possible, just like reservation percentage increase to accommodate every caste, Indian cricket team should have as many as possible rotating them in each match retaining only the indispensables till the end!

it is a sad but true reality that South Indian Crickers find it very tough to remain in team (very little representation from South India, East India etc.) – we had Srikanth, Kumble, Ashwin etc. – but the majority comes from North-West India.

Raidu was an attacking batsman when he began – but over the years, he has lost his charm and style! Same is with Dinesh Karthik……however, they shd have given him a respectful exit. Announcing is name as one of the reserves and then keeping him sidelining….very immature of BCCI.

Obviously, he is hurt and this is a reaction. But anyway, life can be very harsh.

don’t think kiwis can win any points from here on 20/2 in 7 overs chasing 306. They should look at salvaging their NRR and not to lose by 170 -200 runs but try to get to 250+ runs to put things beyond Pakistan when the battle for NRR comes into play should Pakistan beat Bangladesh

Apparently for Pakistan to get ahead of New Zealand on NRR if they bowl first against Bangladesh, New Zealand need to be bowled out for 142 here and Pakistan need to bowl Bangladesh out for 0 and win with five wides first ball.

More chance of Satyam commenting here in next hour than Pakistan going semi. Anyway can SA change the order? They despise Aussies and India would prefer NZ. England might thrash India if they bat first.

@Aamirsfan: I apologize if you think I insulted a whole country by my statement. My statement is against the playboy-turned-Mullah who is now preaching the Holy Quran to all after impregnating women in the US and UK and thinking his was the best libido in this world. About the lentils, I did not ‘create’ the statement! It is printed.

I am extremely harsh on politicians; be they Indian, Pakistani, or American or from anywhere. Truth, just like death, is extremely harsh and real.

Having said all of this, it is a real joy for a cricket-fan to watch Amir bowl the lethal ones. What a joy to watch him bowl those unplayable deliveries! After witnessing the lethal trio of Akram, Younis, and Akhtar — the trio of whom Tendulkar cleaned up in the 2003 world-cup [Sach’s best innings EVER] — he is one of the better things that has happened to Pak Cricket team. I hope he has learned his lesson that greed doesn’t pay and continues to excel in cricket..

And also, being an extremely pessimistic person by nature, I hardly envision India winning the cup [though I would love to be proven wrong here.] The ONLY way the are winning the cup is by winning the toss, putting 350+ on board, and let Bumrah take over…

India along with Australia, England and New Zealand will feature in the semi-finals of the ongoing World Cup 2019. While India, Australia and England had already booked their place in the semis, New Zealand were left to wait till the end of Pakistan’s last league fixture against Bangladesh to confirm their spot in the top-four. If Pakistan beat Bangladesh at Lord’s they will finish level with New Zealand on 11 points and five wins, but the run-rate tie-breaker means they will be heading home. Pakistan, needing to smash the world record for margin of victory in a one-day international, scored 315 for nine in their 50 overs at Lord’s. As soon as Bangladesh, already eliminated from the 10-team competition, reached eight runs in their innings, Pakistan were mathematically out of contention.

While all the four teams semi-finalists have been confirmed now, India and Australia, still have a match remaining to decide who will top the World Cup 2019 points table.
England, having played all of their nine matches, will stay at number three in the points table. Australia are currently leading the points table with 14 points in eight games, followed by India who have 13 points in the same number of matches.
India’s semi-final scenarios
If India lose their last league game against Sri Lanka in Leeds, they’ll stay in their current position in the points table (second place) and will face the only team that has managed to beat them in the league stage, England.
However, if Australia fail to beat South Africa at Old Trafford on Saturday and India win their match against Sri Lanka at Headingley on the same day, then they will top the table and play fourth-placed New Zealand in their semi-final match.
Australia’s semi-final scenarios
Australia need to win their league match against South Africa to make the outcome of India vs Sri Lanka at Headingley irrelevant. But, if South Africa manage to beat Australia in the last league fixture of the World Cup 2019 and India defeat Sri Lanka, India will exchange places with the defending champions in the points table and Australia will battle it out against arch-rivals England in the semi-final.
The first semi-final will be played in Manchester on Tuesday, which will feature the table toppers and the number four team. The second semi-final is scheduled to be played in Birmingham on Thursday between the second and third-placed teams in the points table.

What India want IMO.
SA to turn up and beat Australia, India to beat SL. This way India don’t revisit edgbaston and their only loss against England and play NZ whom they haven’t played at Old Trafford where they beat Pakistan. England and Australia will hopefully take a lot out of each other by which time Kohli and Dhoni will have found their best form to take either apart!

On Friday, ahead of India’s final group stage match against Sri Lanka, Dhoni, as per an ABP News report, said he has no plans of retiring anytime soon however he was certain that some people wanted him to leave before the Sri Lanka match.

“I don’t know when I will retire. But a lot of people want me to retire before tomorrow’s game (against Sri Lanka),” Dhoni told ABP News.

Huge. Against NZ I just feel the toss matters less ie India could chase down a total to win. Obviously a lesser threat too compared to England.

Sharma’s form has been key till now but I hope Kohli and Dhoni hit century and strike rate form now as pressure will be huge now. 5 centuries in 8 games is no joke. The guy is awesome. Technically doesn’t matter just like Sehwag. He hits big shots and shows no fear.

Pretorius bowled a wicket maiden, claiming Warner in his sixth and last over and never bowled again. He went at economy of 4.5 best among all bowlers today at Manchester. Add to this he had 2 maidens and 2 wickets as well as MOM against SL. Why would Faf bowl others who were getting thrashed for 17 runs in a over?

Looks lik we could have had the 6th century for the day if Carey didn’t miss out – Mathews, Rohit, Rahul, Faf, Warner were the five centurions for the day. Carey missed by 15 runs

And this SA-AUSTRALIA match is really a lesson for Virat. Of course, he’s not the same Virat of 2015 or 2017. Yes, the Aussies came close on an insult of a pitch, but they lost, didn’t they? Irrespective of HOWEVER strong batsmen, and however many, you have in your team, in a prestigious tournament, you just bat first and put runs on the board if you win a toss, PERIOD. It’s a sad state of affairs, but that’s what modern-day cricket is. [Unless and until you are so cock-sure of the pitch conditions.] We could have maintained our terrific record against Pak overseas, but his stupidity during the CWC asking Pak to bat first cost us our first overseas loss against Pak post the noughties…

I hope he doesn’t repeat such crappy mistakes again…especially in the semis and if he manages to get to the finals…

In most knock out games on decent batting tracks you’ve got to bat first. Runs on board is crucial! I don’t know who won toss in 83 but India had runs on board and THE GREATEST side of that era crumbled. SL and India chased in 96 and 11 respectively. I hated Ganguly’s ludicrous decision in 03 final to bowl. The pressure to chase is high.

it is disgusting to see the entire cricket board practically run by the influence of mumbai-cricketrs shastri-gavaskar-sanjumanu and gang as if the rest of the India does not matter! when will BCCI be fair and neutral to the rest of the country?

yes, the bullies from Bombay and the north are disgusting.No doubt about it. You could almost see the pithy arrogance in Shastri’s drunk eyes when he was forced to applaud KL Rahul’s century. Pathetic!!

Actor Anushka Sharma is in the UK, giving company to husband and cricketer Virat Kohli who is leading Team India in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. The actor cheered for the team from the bleachers as India won against Sri Lanka and was seen asking one of the friends about the signal for a four. While its okay to not know about the technicalities of the game, Twitter had a field day laughing over the same.

A video of Anushka asking one of those sitting besides her “Is this a four signal?” has gone viral. She is seen making the gesture of the signal which indicates a four (4 runs).

Taking a dig at the actor, a fan wrote, “Wife of Indian Cricket team Captain” with a folded hands emoji. A similar tweet read, “Wife of best cricketer in the world.” Another user wrote, “Kohli ko sahi biwi mili hai. (Kohli has got the right kind of wife).”

Responding to the query, Rohit said that different people react differently to different situations and it is solely a personal choice.

“See, that’s the challenge for the sportsman. All this distraction will happen, but every individual is different, and it depends on how he wants to think about that particular incident or situation. For me, like I said just now, I want to stay away from all of that and enjoy the beautiful weather in England,” Rohit said.

in this World Cup, most definitely. I was hoping at 189/1, Kohli sent Pant to finish the game. Instead he came out. A 40* would have done a lot of good for Pant than Kohli. He would have learnt a lot. But not to be so.

tips to get more out of Dhoni
1. Open with Dhoni and Rohit. Given the kind of form Rohit is in, he can keep the scoring rate steady while Dhoni gets his mojo back.And if he gets out too soon, nevermind. If India got any disposable wickets it’s Dhoni
2. Have him bowl a few overs of seam up if any of the regular are getting a drubbing. His lack of pace will make the ball wobble.

As odd as it sounds moving Dhoni up the order makes way more sense to me for these reasons. It will force him to score or get out. As for bowling leave it to the other 10 players!

Dhoni conundrum is only here for 2 matches, he’ll retire afterwards and I for sure will remember his great 2011 innings, probably the best knock under pressure I’ve seen. As a captain he was incredible. I hope he smacks a half century.

No way dhoni stays beyond the world cup even if he scores a match winning innings. Its painfully obvious that he is just a touch slow in terms of his reactions against fast bowling. what was more worrying was the bad day he had behind the stumps against sri lanka, hopefully that was just an aberration. He deserves to go out on a high rather than being pushed out for sticking around too long.

If the match is washed out on the reserve day too then India will progress through to the finals as they finished at number 1 points table with 15 points while New Zealand scraped through with 11 points and were placed at number 4 on the points table.

Semi Final
If a Semi-Final is tied, the teams shall compete in a Super Over to determine which team progresses to the Final.
If following a tie, weather conditions prevent the Super Over from being completed, or if the match is abandoned or a no result at the end of the reserve day, then the team which proceeds to the Final will be the team that finished in the higher position in the League Stage.
Final
In the event of a tied final, the teams shall compete in a Super Over to determine which team is the winner.
If following a tie, weather conditions prevent the Super Over from being completed, or if the match is abandoned or a no result at the end of the reserve day, the teams shall be declared joint winners.

I’m expecting NZ to get to 250 at least. Still a tough chase but achievable. Pitch shouldn’t change much. Rain now and NZ really are screwed as it’s a terrible start. I’d like India to win over 50 overs but a bit of rain as back up will help India.

Yeah it would be almost like an anti-‘climax’ in the ’80s films. The falling in love is complete, songs are complete, the mandatory ‘tumhari haisiyat aur hamari haisiyat kya’ taken care of, marriage function over without any obstacles: But come first night, just have a glass of milk fall asleep snoring…

Yep but I prefer this than chasing over 300 in any condition. Ideally India wants a 30 over match with rain still a risk and they stay ahead of the score. Something like that. Even at 46 overs they can manage the chase. India are favourites. Top 8 all play T20 anyway.

148 is fair total here. NZ kept wickets in hand rather than going for runs. Tomorrow India can restrict them by getting some dots in early. A wet outfield is not good for bowling teams. Slippery, harder to catch, wet ball etc. India have a T20 side pretty much, I checked India’s last T20 side – majority are playing here. They can adjust batting order if required – Jadeja in will help too.

For me the bigger sin here is if it rains tomorrow and no game took place. Neutrals deserve a sporting contest. India have a lot of advantages like knowing the target, knowing how many runs they need at each wicket. Of course they are chasing but they were in any event, that pressure exists.